Cha Thé Tea

Monday, 08 September 2008

By Elin Headrick

The term “sommelier” from the world of wine is seeping into the tea experience. So, how does one become a tea sommelier and, if you’re a restaurateur, how do you hire one?

Of French origin, sommelier means “wine steward” and has come to be associated with a high level of expertise. It makes sense to apply the term to tea, many believe, because of the cultivated palate required to discern subtleties in different varieties of tea.

Some of the best known tea sommeliers in the United States today are found in large, cosmopolitan hotels: the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, the Phoenix Ritz Carlton and the Park Hyatt in Washington, D.C. They educate guests on the hotels’ extensive selections of tea and help develop an appreciation for the drink.

Asked what it takes to succeed in their emerging field, these tea sommeliers agreed that it requires a mix of knowledge about tea – acquired through travel and study – and hospitality skills.

Cynthia Gold, tea sommelier at Boston Park Plaza Hotel, said her role is to bridge the culinary and tea worlds, offering support to both the chef and guests. Tea sommeliers “should be comfortable with choosing teas to properly support the menu and the service styles of the establishment, creating new tea blends, cooking with teas and creating tea cocktails,” she said.

Phoenix Ritz Carlton tea sommelier Jeffery Hattrick believes “it is the primary role of a sommelier to personify and colorize something as simple as a cup of tea.” He added the tea sommelier must understand hotel guests, have a sense of their likes and needs and “deliver the perfect experience within a teapot.” 

Elizabeth Knight of teawithfriends.com and former tea sommelier at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City believes traveling to origin is important. Before formal training was readily available, Knight educated herself. Building on a cheap winter airfare to London, she set up meetings with employees of Harrods, the Ritz, Fortnum and Mason, Claridges and Taylors of Harrogate. She asked endless questions and learned about tea selection, service and preparation.

“In addition to tea basics it is important to know about the culture that produced the tea,” Knight added. She ventured to India, Japan and Tibet, because she “wanted to smell tea leaves and to feel the sun on my back in Darjeeling.”

Gold agreed that traveling to the source is a plus: “My first time in Zhejiang province in China, being allowed the privilege of helping to harvest the leaves, bring them through the wither and then wok fire them was a truly life changing experience.”

All this is what Hattrick described as the “practical and educational foundation” necessary to be considered a sommelier of any kind.

Gold sees similarities with wine and tea sommeliers and is optimistic that formal training and regulation for the latter is on the way. For now, no formal certification is required. “The individuals who use the title by and large have extensive backgrounds learning about tea and tea service domestically and directly at the source in Asia,” she explained.

A few training programs are available to hone one’s tea expertise:

• The Specialty Tea Institute (STI) offers a multi-level certification program.

• The American Tea Masters Association offers a 13-Week course, which culminates in a Certified Tea Master designation.

A few culinary schools are also adding tea seminars to their curriculum. George Brown University in Toronto, for example, is in the early stages of developing a Tea Appreciation Certificate program.

For now, sources said, hotels interested in having a tea sommelier should look for a candidate with both knowledge of tea and understanding of hospitality and service. Check references, and keep in mind that a person with a background in public relations or marketing can help promote the hotel’s or restaurant’s tea services.

“Tea is a plant, a beverage, a meal, a ritual, a part of religion and a social venue,” Knight noted.

Who are the superstars in the field? Gold remembers Helen Gustafson: “In my mind, Helen was the first true tea sommelier. Gustafson was the woman who convinced Alice Waters at Chez Panisse that, if she was breaking new ground with the quality, freshness and respect paid to her culinary ingredients, why was she not looking towards the teas served in her restaurant with the same expectations.”